What is satellite radio's cell phone strategy?

Tyler - With cell phones now having MP3 capabilities and the new iPhone its very obvious that cell phones are going to be a humongous player in mobile audio entertainment.

With the extreme success of the iPod, I was so happy to see Sirius and XM come out with portable radios/mp3 players. Tell me what is the future cell phone strategy for these companies? There has to be a fully functional satellite radio/cellphone, no? Where is the strategy?

Tyler I understand your points, but this quote I have an easy answer for. You don't take on these companies, you partner with them. No way Sirius is in the phone business. But Verizon or Sprint or any of the big phone companies partnering up with Sirius on a fully functional satellite radio receiver/cell phone is most logical don't you think?

Another question Tyler. In the future, why will anybody spend a dime to buy an iPod if they can just play all their MP3's on their cell phone anyway? The iPod becomes a totally unnecessary expense if a person's cell phone can do the exact same thing at no extra cost for the functionality. I see the cell phone as iPod's biggest competitor and quite likely taking most of the market share away from the iPod.

To me thats the reason Apple came out with the iPhone. Apples saw the cell phone competition coming. To me that signals what satellite radio should do. Strike a deal for a combination player just like Apple did.

Tyler I am absolutely not talking about just providing cell phones with music the way Sirius and XM do now. I am talking about a fully functional satellite radio ( ie Stiletto) with the entire channel lineup, integrated with a fully functional cell phone. To me this is a no brainer and I'm not quite sure why it hasn't happened yet.

I understand the contracts question Tyler but the exact same issue exists on the internet and look at Sirius' internet offering. It does not just consist of music. Its a very comprehensive lineup. I can't see that issue stopping a Sirius cell phone.

Can you imagine listening to Howard on a cell phone? Its a no brainer just like putting Howard on the net was.

Size

At this point I think that the size of satellite radio simply does not make such a deal condusive at this point. The merger will help with that situation. Right now SDARS needs cell companies more than cell companies need SDARS. At least that is the perception, and until that changes, we likely will not see such a device developed. Apple had the "guns" to make it happen.

At this point I think that the size of satellite radio simply does not make such a deal condusive at this point. The merger will help with that situation. Right now SDARS needs cell companies more than cell companies need SDARS. At least that is the perception, and until that changes, we likely will not see such a device developed. Apple had the "guns" to make it happen.

I think the next few years, post merger are critical.

That is an excellent point that I had not considered. The leverage to make a deal.

Tyler - We know how many cars are on the road in this country - 230 million. I want to know the number of cellphones in use in the US. Its got to be a massive number as well. Would you have that number?